Read More

He added: “At the very least what they could have done is asked any candidate to pledge that they would learn the language. I am sure that we have plenty of people here in Wales with the skills required for these types of jobs.”

But the county’s Welsh language champion Cllr Huw Hilditch-Roberts hit back saying that language requirements could prevent the best person for the job applying.

He said: “I think we should have the best person for the job with the skills to match and if they speak Welsh then that’s a bonus.

“Here in Denbighshire we’ve had a chief executive who is not a Welsh speaker who has made sure the council has worked to invest in the Welsh language and we haven’t gone backwards in that time.”